India, Revisited

I've had a rather long, exhausting, but rewarding day.

Tonight, Amanda had a Jolica Jewellery fundraiser with an Indian theme. The benefit was for a pastor I know in India who runs an orphanage. In keeping with the theme, we went with Indian food as the snacks, which I cooked.

Since visiting India in 2007-2008, I have learned how to cook quite a few Indian dishes. But this is the first time I have made Indian appetizers.

So, I pored over cookbooks and did internet searches, and decided to make vegetable samosas, bhajjia (fritters), cucumber raita and coriander chutney. Everything turned out great, but my inexperience with these dishes meant it all took a LONG time! In fact, I actually started cooking last night, and other than a short trip to town this morning to watch Jude's class lead assembly at school (and run into the grocery store for a few last-minute supplies), managed to cook for most of today, too, guiding my own students through their lessons from my position by the kitchen counter.

The snacks weren't perfect, but they were yummy. There was a great turnout at the party, and the ladies there enjoyed the food (despite it's deep-fried nature) and chai (from scratch), also.

I meant to take photos, as I was rather proud of my made-from-scratch samosas... but I didn't! :-) Oh, well.

Also, I made WAY too many, so I guess I get to take a break from cooking tomorrow! Yay!

And! I even got to wear my sari (a once-every-three-year event these days!)

Happy Wednesday, friends! What have YOU been up to this week?